West Ham's Noble set for Hull return but Antonio misses out
(Reuters) - West Ham United captain Mark Noble is expected to play in Saturday's game against relegation-threatened Hull City but midfielder Michail Antonio is yet to recover from a hamstring injury, manager Slaven Bilic said on Thursday.
Noble, who has missed only six of the club's 37 fixtures this season, sustained a leg injury against Chelsea that was aggravated during the following game against Bournemouth. The injury kept him out of this month's 3-2 loss to Leicester City.
"Noble has been out but he's been training and he's back to be in the squad for the Hull City game," Bilic told reporters.
Antonio, the club's top scorer with nine goals, has been ruled out of the Hull game after suffering a hamstring injury against Leicester while fellow striker Diafra Sakho has returned to training after four months out with a back injury.
Bilic did not pay heed to media reports suggesting West Ham are looking to change managers at the end of the season, with Reading boss Jaap Stam touted as his successor.
"Personally, my head is clear and I still have a job to do here. I am still very motivated," the former Croatia manager said.
West Ham, 12th in the table, will hope to end a three-game winless run when they travel to face 18th-placed Hull.
(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)